Pivot means for shears and the like



Dec. 13, 1932 R. R. oNs T-r'. 1,890,850

PIVOT MEANS FOR SHEARS AND THE LIKE Filed Sept. 12, 1930 Jig INVENTOR ROBERTR Gan/657T g i7 12 @@@m/m@/m/ ATTORNEY Patented Dec. 13, 1932 UNITED STATES ROBERT R. GONSETT, 0}? LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA PIVOT MEANS FOR SHEARS AND THE LIKE Application filed September 12, 1930. Serial No. 481,461.

My present invention relates" to pivot means for shears, the term shears being here employed to cover the class of cutting devices comprising a pair of cutting members or blades pivoted face to face so that objects placed therebetween are cut when the'blades are brought together.

The objects of this invention are: first, to provide a means of this class for supporting and pivotally connecting a pair of cutting blades or members relative to each other, and one whereby the tension or friction be tween the cutting edges or faces between the adjacent cutting blades may be manually and easily adjusted or varied as and when desired under different conditions and to suit or accommodate the shears to the different materials to be cut; second, to provide a pivot means of this class which may be easily manually adjusted and which will remain or will be locked in such adjusted positions; third, to provide pivot means of this class comprising a bolt and nut in which both the bolt and nut will be substantially locked to one member of the cutting device so as ,to hold the desired adjusted cutting relation between the cutting members and to prevent undesired separation or'unscrewing of the bolt and nut; fourth, to provide novel means for preventing the bolt from rotating and novel resilient and yieldable catch means for holding the nut resiliently and'yieldably in the desired adjusted relation to the bolt; fifth, to provided pivot means in connection with motor operated shears in which the cutting operation takes place over a small portion of the cutting edges of the cutting members and in which only one of the cutting members or blades is continuously oscillatedwith respect to an adjustable blade, and one in which one of the members of the pivot means is locked with respect to and adjusted with the adjustment of the adjustable blade in such manner that the tension or frictionbetween the cutting blades is reduced when the cutting operation takes place at the outer ends of the cutting edges of the blades; and, sixth, to provide as a whole a novelly constructed pivot means for shears, and f one which is particularly simple and economical of construction proportionate to its functions, and one which is durable and one which will not readily deteriorate or get out of order.

With these and other objects in view as will appear hereinafter, I have provided pivot means which comprises certain novel features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts and portions as will be hereinafter described in detail and particu- '60 larly set forth in the appended claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawing and to the characters of reference thereon which form a part of this application in which:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary partial side and partial sectional view of a motor operated shears embodying my pivot means in one form; Fig. 2 is a partial edge and partial sectional view thereof taken at 22 7 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional View thereof taken at 33 of Fig. 1; Fig. 4: is a side view of a common household shears or scissors embodying my pivot means; Fig.

5 is a partial edge and partial sectional view '7 thereof taken at 55 of Fig. 4; Fig. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view thereof taken through 6-6 of Fig. 5; Fig. 7 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view thereof, similar to that of Fig. 6, but showing a portionthere of broken away to facilitate the illustration; and Fig. 8 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view of the pivot means of Fig. 5.

Like characters of reference refer to similar parts and portions throughout the views of the" drawing.

The cutting device shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 8 is one form of motor operated shears disclosed in my patent for motor-operated shears, United States Patent No. 1,806,555. These shears consist primarily of a support or casing 1, at one end, 10:, of which are. supported, intermediate their ends, a pair of cutting blades 2 and 3, the cutting portions of which extend outwardly beyond the end la of the casing and the other ends of which extend into the casing. The-blade2 issubstantially stationary but is adjusted with respect to the casing or support l by an adjusting screw 4, which, in this instance,

is rotatable at one end with respect to the casing and is threaded at its inner end and extends into the casing and through a nut 5 which is loosely positioned in a bifurcated portion at the inner end 2a of the blade 2. The inner end So of the blade 3 serves as an armature and is positioned along side of an electro-magnet 6 mounted in the casing, and is oscillated through short oscillations by the electro-magnet. These oscillations, which are in the form of vibrations, cause short and rapid strokes of its cutting edge with respect to the cutting'edge of the blade 2. By the adjustment of the screw 4, the blades are either contracted or separated with respect to each other and cause the cutting operation to take place at the outer or inner ends or intermediate portions of the cutting edges depending upon the adjusted position of the blade 2.

The blades 2 and 3 are pivotally connected together and are pivotally supported on the support or casing 1 by my new pivot means. This pivot means consists, in this construction, of a bolt 11, a nut 12, a catch member or pawl 13, and a spring 14. The bolt and the nut, which is screwed to the end of the bolt, extends between the furcations at the end 1a of the casing 1, the fur cations being positioned at the opposite sides of the casing and form spaced apart and aligned bearings 11) and 1c. The bolt 11 is provided at one end with a relatively long transverse head 11a which is seated in a correspondingly shaped recess or slot 1d at the outer side of the bearing 1?), as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The nut 12 is provided with a knurled knob portion 12a at its outer end and with a reduced boss 12?) at its inner end. This boss extends through and is rotatable with respect to the bearing portion 10 of the casing and the blade 2. The knurled knob portion 12a is positioned at the outside of and bears against the bearing portion 10. The boss 12b is provided with longitudinal grooves or serrations at its periphery into which is adapted to extend the catch member or pawl 18. This catch member or pawl is in the form of a plunger which extends radiallv outwardly from the boss and is secured at its outer end to the free end of a long plate spring 14: which is secured at one end to the upper edge of the adjustable blade 2, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. Thus, the catch member or pawl 13 resiliently locks the nut 12 in position, but the same is readily yieldable so that the nut 12 may be rotated manually in either direction for increasing or decreasing the tension or friction between the faces of the blades.

It will be noted that the threads on the bolt 11 are left handed so that when the blade 2 is adjusted upwardly or contracted with re spect to the blade 3, the nut 12 is unscrewed slightly with respect to the bolt 11, thus releasing the tension or friction between the blades. Such release of tension is very important when the blades are normally curved toward each other at their outer ends so as to reduce the force required to operate the shears at the outer end, particularly in a motor operated shears as disclosed in Figs. 1, 2 and 3.

In the structure shown in Figs. 4, 5, 6, and 7 my pivot means consists of corresponding element-s to those described above, but in this instance both the bolt and the nut are locked to or with respect to the same element, namely, the blade 2. Such locking of the bolt and nut necessitates a slight rearrangement of the elements of the pivot means. The boss 12b, in this instance, also extends into the blade 2, but short of the inner face thereof, as shown in Figs. 5 and 8. The grooves are rounded grooves, as shown in Fig. 7 The catch or a pawl means consists of a ball 15 and a spring 16 both of which are positioned in a circular recess 25 in the inner face of the blade 2. The recess 25 is connected with the hole 20 through which the boss 126 extends, such connection being formed by the intersection of the walls of the recess 25 and the recess 20, forming a small longitudinal slot through which a portion of the ball 15 extends from the recess 25 into the grooves of the boss 12?). The spring 16, whlch is a compression coil spring, forces the ball through said slot into the grooves of the nut and resiliently but yieldably holds the nut from rotation with respect to the blade 2. The recess 26 is closed by a small plate 17 which is frictionally held in the recess and holds the ball and spring in place. The plate 17 is provided with a lug 17 a which extends at one side beyond its circular periphery through the aforementioned slot and into a longitudinal groove 11?) in the side of the shank of the bolt 11. This lug 17a which is prevented from rotating by the extension thereof through said slot also prevents the bolt from rotating. Thus, both the bolt and nut are prevented from rotating with respect to-the same blade or member. In this instance also, as in the construction first described, the nut may be readily rocreasing the tension or friction between the blades so as to accommodate the shears to the different "conditions under which it is used and the different materials to be cut.

Though I have shown and described a parparticular construction, combination and ar-;

rangement, nor to the modification, but desire to include in the scope of my invention the construction, combination and arrangement substantially as set forth in the appended claims.

tated with the fingers for increasing or de-:

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a pair of shears comprising a pair of cutting members,a bolt pivotally connecting and supporting the cutting members relative to each other, a thumb nut screwably mounted on the end of the bolt and provided with a serrated portion at its inner end positioned with its serrated portion within and concealed by one of the cutting members, and a resilient and yieldable catch means in connection with the latter cutting member for yieldably locking the nut relative thereto, said bolt being substantially non-rotatable when the nut is in place.

2. In a device of the class described, a pair of cutting members, a bolt extending transversely through the cutting members and pivotally connecting the same, a nut screwed on the end of the bolt and provided at its inner end with a boss having at its periphery longitudinal serrations positioned within and concealed by one of the cutting members, and a catch means in association with the latter cutting member, said catch means being adapted resiliently to extend into the serrations of the nut for resiliently and yieldably holding the nut against rotation.

3. In a device of the class described, a support having at one end a pair of spaced bearings, a bolt and nut extending between the bearings and positioned coaxial therewith, a pair of cutting members mounted intermediate their ends on the bolt and nut, one of the cutting members being operably pivoted on the bolt with respect to the other cutting member, and means in connection with the bolt and nut for holding the same against unscrewing and rotation during normal operation of the operably pivoted cutting member.

4:. In a device of the class described, a support having at one end a pair of spaced bearings, a bolt and nut extending between the bearings and positioned coaxial therewith, a pair of cutting members pivotally mounted intermediate their ends on the bolt and nut and between the bearings, the bolt having a head secured against rotation with respect to the support, and a resilient and yieldable catch in connection with one of the cutting members for resiliently and yieldably lockin g the nut relative to said cutting member.

5. In a device of the class described, a support having at one end a pair of spaced bearings, a bolt and nut extending between the bearings and positioned coaxial therewith, a pair of cutting members pivotally mounted intermediate their ends on the bolt and nut and between the bearings, the bolt having a head secured against rotation with respect to the support, an adjusting means on the support for holding one of the cutting members in adjusted positions with respect to the support, the other cutting member being freely oscillated about the bolt, means on the support for oscillating the last mentioned cutting member, the nut'extending into the first cutting member, and means on the. first cutting member for resiliently and yieldably holding the nut against rotation with respect to the first cutting member.

6. In a device of the class described, a pair of cutting members, a bolt and nut pivotally connecting the cutting members intermediate their ends, said bolt having a longitudinal slot in its side and toward the end of the bolt, one cutting member fitting directly upon and being pivoted with respect to the bolt, the other cutting member having a hole into which a portion of the nut extends, the latter cutting member having also a recess at its inner side, said recess communicating with the hole into which the nut extends, the portion of the nut extending into the latter cutting member having serrations, a catch member in the recess adapted to extend into said serrations, a spring in the recess for forcing the catch member into the serrations, and a plate positioned over the recess and provided with a key portion extending into the longitudinal slot in the bolt.

7 In means of the class described, a pair of cutting members, a bolt and nut connecting said cutting members together, means resiliently engaging and yieldably locking said nut in adjusted position, additional means for locking said bolt in fixed position, both of said locking means being on the same member and located within the surface contour of said member.

8. In a pair of shears comprising a pair of cutting members, a bolt extending transversely through the cutting members, a nut on the bolt, and means on one of the cutting members for locking said bolt against rotation in the member and additional means for resiliently engaging and yieldable locking said nut to the same member, both of said locking means being located within the surface contour of said member.

9. In a pair of shears comprising a pair of cutting members, a bolt extending transversely through the cutting members, a nut on the bolt, means in one member directly engaging and non-rotatably locking the bolt to said member, and additional means also in said member for resiliently engaging and yieldably locking said nut relative to the same member.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at Los Angeles, California, this 5th day of September, 1930.

ROBERT R. GONSETT. 

